Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2008 Resurrecting the Anonymous: An Introduction To Mary Steele, the Author of Danebury and The Power of Friendship, A Tale with Two Odes by a Young Lady Amanda J. Holmes Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Holmes, Amanda J., "Resurrecting the Anonymous: An Introduction To Mary Steele, the Author of Danebury and The Power of Friendship, A Tale with Two Odes by a Young Lady" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 174. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/174 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RESURRECTING THE ANONYMOUS: AN INTRODUCTION TO MARY STEELE, THE AUTHOR OF DANEBURY AND THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, A TALE WITH TWO ODES BY A “YOUNG LADY” by AMANDA HOLMES (Under the Direction of Timothy Whelan) ABSTRACT Published anonymously in 1779 Danebury, or the Power of Friendship, a Tale with Two Odes, has retained its anonymity for over two centuries. Evidence found in the Reeves and Steele Collections housed at Angus Library; Regent’s Park College, Oxford identifies the author as Mary Steele, a provincial young woman with a Nonconformist background who was an active participant in a literary coterie that included other published authors such as Mary Scott, Anne Steele, and Hannah More. Drawing upon the work of Marjorie Reeves as well as the original manuscripts contained in the Reeves and Steele collections, this thesis provides the first in depth discussion of Mary Steele’s published work and the role her literary circle of friends and acquaintances and her Nonconformist background played in shaping her poetry. INDEX WORDS: 18th-century poetry, 18th-century women, Nonconformity, Friendship poetry, Retirement poetry, Poetry about the American Revolution, 18th-century manuscripts and letters, Danebury Hill, Mary Steele, Anne Steele, Mary Scott, Reeves Collection, Steele Collection, Literary circles 1 RESURRECTING THE ANONYMOUS: AN INTRODUCTION TO MARY STEELE, THE AUTHOR OF DANEBURY AND THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, A TALE WITH TWO ODES BY A “YOUNG LADY” by AMANDA HOLMES B.A. University of Alabama, 2001 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ART STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2008 2 © 2008 Amanda Holmes All Rights Reserved 3 RESURRECTING THE ANONYMOUS: AN INTRODUCTION TO MARY STEELE, THE AUTHOR OF DANEBURY AND THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, A TALE WITH TWO ODES BY A “YOUNG LADY” by AMANDA HOLMES Major Professor: Tim Whelan Committee: Julia Griffin Candy Schille Electronic Version Approved: May 2008 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the librarians and archivists of Angus Library at Regent’s Park College, Oxford for their assistance with the Steele and Reeves Collections. Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Timothy Whelan for the opportunity to work on this project and for directing the production of this thesis. Last, but certainly not least, my sincere appreciation to the faculty and staff of the Department of Literature and Philosophy, especially Dr. Julia Griffin, Dr. Candy Schille, and Dr. Doug Thomson for their thoughtful guidance and encouragement. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................5 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................7 A NOTE ON THE USE OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE THESIS .......................................8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................9 2 MARY STEELE AND HER LITERARY COTERIE ....................................18 3 DANEBURY, OR THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP: MARY STEELE AND THE LEGACY OF THE FRIENDSHIP POEM ........................................42 4 MARY STEELE’S “SPRING, AN ODE” AND THE TRADITION OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY RETIREMENT POETRY ............................64 5 “LIBERTY, AN ODE” AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.................76 6 CONCLUSION................................................................................................87 NOTES...............................................................................................................................89 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................95 6 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Map of English Countryside: places mentioned in the correspondence (Reeves Pursuing, vii) ....................................................................................................19 7 A NOTE ON THE USE OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE THESIS In my thesis, I have used portions of transcriptions from poems and letters taken from the Steele Collection and the Reeves Collection, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. In these transcriptions, I have tried to adhere as closely as possible to the original manuscripts. Archaic and unusual spellings, variations in spellings of the same word or name, and typical eighteenth-century capitalization of nouns have not been changed. Occasionally, the “e” in words that end in “ed” has been left out; in some cases, the deletion is noted with an apostrophe, but in several instances the letters have simply been joined together. In what was a common eighteenth-century practice, on occasions a “y” is used in place of “th” and generally accompanied by a superscript letter that completes the word (for example, “ye” for “the”). It should also be noted that many sentences in the letters have no closing punctuation, and normal punctuation patterns are often missing altogether in these letters and poems. 8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Silently entombed in family archives, tucked away in attics, anonymously encased in age-old bindings, and waiting patiently under a century or more of dust, are the still silent voices of an all but forgotten literary past, a past which scholars and historians have made great strides in unearthing over the last several decades, but one that nevertheless has yet to be fully resurrected. A piece of this past has recently been uncovered at Oxford. The Steele Collection was acquired by Regent’s Park College’s Angus Library after the death of Hugh Steele-Smith. Dr. Marjorie Reeves outlines much of the collection and its significance to English Nonconformist culture in her book Pursuing the Muses: Female Education and Nonconformist Culture 1700-1900, 1997. This collection of archival material is particularly valuable in reconstructing the distinct literary and cultural history of the late eighteenth century because the manuscripts are primarily written by Nonconformist women—one of whom was known (Anne Steele) and one unknown (Mary Steele), though both were published authors. It is the last of the two authors whose obscure publication this thesis attempts to acknowledge and examine at length. Isobel Grundy makes an eloquent argument for the rediscovery of such early female literary contributions and their value in reconstructing and re-engendering a literary past that has long deserved to be brought to light: If as students we wish to know, and if as teachers we wish to know something about the workings of gendering society, then we need those 9 early women’s voices. They alone can teach us something of how it felt to live as a woman in a culture (so different from our own, yet sharing so much with it) in which the inferiority and subordination of women was utterly taken for granted. They can teach us something important, too about the impulse to literature, the sources of the poems, stories and so on—something of how to read the work of those who broke into literature from the outside, who in taking up the pen were claiming a privilege which in general was denied to them. (185) Any reconstruction of the eighteenth century literary canon ought to reflect a more concerted effort to rediscover the still forgotten voices of the age, generations of women who took up the pen and wrote in spite of the social and educational constraints that might have impeded them. Networks of literary friends have thus far played an important role in modern efforts to reconstruct the British literary canon to reflect more accurately the female poetic of eighteenth-century Britain. Collections of letters and manuscripts that pass among the members of such social networks have allowed scholars like Isobel Grundy to glimpse a literary past that has been too long forgotten. Through her work with the Steele and Reeves Collections, Marjorie Reeves uncovered a hitherto unknown group of acquaintances who enjoyed an active and rich correspondence while pursuing their literary aspirations. The literary development and friendships of these women can be traced through manuscripts and personal correspondence that passed between its members, most particularly Mary Steele, whose letters and poetry form an integral part of this collection and whose obscure publication is the focus of the chapters to come. Marjorie Reeves argues that this particular